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Key Vote to Protect Forests and Communities
The Bush Administration wants to cut essential funding for our National Forests and for nearby rural communities. Adding insult to injury, the Administration has even proposed the sell-off of National Forest lands to make money.
On June 4, the House of Representatives will vote on legislation to continue funding for National Forests and communities. Please use our letter below to tell your Representative to support H.R. 3058, the Public Land Communities Transition Act, so rural communities and National Forests will receive the funding they urgently need.
As always, by adding your own words to our letter, you increase its impact!
Need more info? Click on "Tell me More" link, below.
| Sample Letter for Campaign |
Subject: Support H.R. 3058, Public Land Communities Transition Act
Dear [ Decision Maker ] ,
I strongly urge you to support H.R. 3058, the Public Land Communities Transition Act. This legislation will ensure that counties and schools near National Forests will continue to receive critically important funding. It will also allow environmentally beneficial restoration work to occur in the National Forests.
Prompt action is now necessary to avoid drastic cut-backs by affected counties and schools. Please vote in favor of H.R. 3058, which provides a four-year solution and adjusts the existing county payments program so that it is more equitable and sustainable.
Please support this important program that benefits rural communities and helps restore our National Forests.
Sincerely,
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Campaign Launched:
May 30, 2008
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The vitality of rural communities and health of National Forests is at stake.
Historically, rural counties and schools received 25% of revenues generated by timber sales and other commodity production from the National Forests. This revenue-sharing system created an environmentally harmful incentive for county and school officials to advocate increased logging in National Forests. As logging revenues declined in the 1990s, many counties and schools faced a budgetary crisis.
Fortunately, Congress changed the funding system for counties and schools in 2000 with passage of the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act. The law replaced revenue-sharing with a guaranteed level of payments that was no longer tied to the amount of timber produced from the National Forests.
In addition, the Secure Rural Schools Act has provided millions of dollars each year for stewardship-oriented projects on National Forest lands. Funds have been put to good use improving fish and wildlife habitat, controlling noxious weeds and maintaining roads and trails.
However, the Secure Rural Schools Act required Congressional reauthorization in order to continue the guaranteed payments and restoration projects. President Bush has proposed to phase out the Secure Rural Schools program and sell hundreds of thousands of acres of National Forest land. The President's outrageous proposal to sell-off National Forest lands met with overwhelming, bi-partisan opposition.
Amid the controversy, Congress failed to reauthorize the Secure Rural Schools legislation and the program expired in September 2006. In 2007, a group of Western Senators forged a compromise proposal to revise and extend the Secure Rural Schools program, but President Bush vetoed the legislation. Instead, Congress and the President agreed to an emergency one-year extension of the program, which expires this summer.
This year, Congressman Peter DeFazio of Oregon has led the effort to pass long-term legislation reauthorizing the county payments program. The House Natural Resources Committee recently approved DeFazio's H.R. 3058, which is modeled after the 2007 Senate compromise proposal. The next critical step is for the U.S. House of Representatives to vote on H.R. 3058 and send it to the Senate.
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